Does ‘white privilege’ exist? It depends on how you ask, new South Carolina poll finds

COLUMBIA — Whites in 11 Southern states — even supporters of the Confederate flag — are more likely to say non-whites face “barriers” in society than to agree that whites have a “privilege,” a poll by Winthrop University found.

Winthrop collected the data in its poll of the South last December, and released it the week of Martin Luther King Jr Day.

Pollsters asked half of the 969 respondents if they believed that whites in America have “privileges” that non-whites do not have, while the other half were asked if they believed that non-whites in America experience “barriers.”

Ninety-two percent of blacks reported seeing “privilege,” as did 50 percent of whites. Among supporters of the Confederate flag, 36 percent agreed white have a privilege non-whites lack.

But when asked if non-whites experience “barriers” that whites do not, 71 percent of whites agreed. Among flag supporters, 55 percent agreed that barriers exist to non-whites.

Black respondents were somewhat less likely to agree with the barrier phrasing, just just 85 percent agreeing.

“This is a classic ‘framing effect,’” pollster Scott Huffmon. “Whether differences are attributed to one group having ‘privilege’ or the other group facing ‘barriers,’ the end result is the same; however, by changing the way we talk about a situation, we see that attitudes can shift.”

Market researchers have been familiar with this affect for decades, Huffmon said.

“People may recall decades ago the upcharge for paying with a credit card at a gas station came to be called a ‘cash discount’ and suddenly people were much more accepting,” Huffmon said. “Same result, different frame.”

Other differences in perception also persist, the poll found. Fifty-two percent of African-Americans in the South report that they have been discriminated against in the last year because of their race or ethnicity, while 18 percent of whites reported being discriminated against.

The poll found one odd area of agreement. Nearly equal numbers — 30 percent of whites, 28 percent of blacks — say America should preserve its “white European heritage.”

“We’re not sure what resulted in this common outlook,” Huffmon said. “It could be something as simple as the realization that we sprung from the colonies of a European power.”

Nearly half of those who viewed the Confederate Flag favorably agreed with the preservation of white European heritage.

Poll respondents were reached by landline and cellphone from Nov. 10 to 20 and from Nov. 26 to Dec. 2, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.15 percentage points. The Winthrop poll covered Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.